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"We've Never Seen Such Horror": Crimes Against Humanity by Syrian Security Forces
![[Map of Dar'a Governorate. Image from HRW.org]](/content_images/3/sm_hrwdaraa.jpg "[Map of Dar'a Governorate. Image from HRW.org]")
[Below is the latest from the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Syria.] "We've Never Seen Such Horror": Crimes Against Humanity by Syrian Security Forces Summary Since the beginning of anti-government protests in March 2011, Syrian security forces have killed hundreds of protesters and arbitrarily arrested thousands, subjecting many of them to brutal torture in detention. The security forces routinely prevented the wounded from getting medical assistance, and imposed a siege on several towns, depriving the population of basic services. Some of the worst abuses took place in Daraa governorate in southwestern Syria. The nature and scale of abuses, which Human ...
Keep Reading »Whither Palestinian Resistance? Part III Roundtable on Palestinian Diaspora and Representation
![[Image from washingtonpost.com]](/content_images/3/sm_PHO-10Mar22-213188.jpg "[Image from washingtonpost.com]")
[This is PART III of a three-part roundtable on Palestinian Diaspora and Representation moderated by Jadaliyya Co-Editor Noura Erakat. It features Naseer Aruri, Seif Da'na, Karma Nabulsi, and Sherene Seikaly. Read the Keep Reading »
Palestinians Organizing in Diaspora: PART I Roundtable on Palestinian Diaspora and Representation
![[Image from mondediplo.com]](/content_images/3/sm_arton2071.jpg "[Image from mondediplo.com]")
[This is PART I of a three-part roundtable on Palestinian Diaspora and Representation moderated by Jadaliyya Co-Editor Noura Erakat. It features Naseer Aruri, Seif Da'na, Karma Nabulsi, and Sherene Seikaly.] Palestinians are not unique for organizing themselves in diaspora. The Tamils of Sri Lanka have recently elected their transnational government and other ther ethnic polities like indigenous communities in Latin America, including the Mayans of Zapata, have organized themselves within their homelands, as opposed to without. How can the Palestinian national body be contextualized in a legacy of diasporic politics and calls for ...
Keep Reading »A Journey into Refugee Camps along the Tunisian-Libyan Border
![[Image Source: Noureddine Jebnoun. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tents at a camp in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia]](/content_images/3/sm_jebnoun1.png "[Image Source: Noureddine Jebnoun. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tents at a camp in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia]")
During a trip to Tunisia in April 2011, I had the opportunity to visit the Tunisian-Libyan border in Ras Ajdir, where thousands of refugees have fled Libya since the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi began on February 17. There, the refugees are living in makeshift camps with the hope of returning to their home countries, such as Eritrea, Egypt, and Mali. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has set up thousands of tents in the remote desert of Echoucha, a no-man’s-land near the Tunisian city of Ben Guerdane and not far from Ras Ajdir. Relief NGOs, such as the Tunisian Red Crescent, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Food Program, ...
Keep Reading »Text of Obama Letter Ordering Further Sanctions on Syria
![[President Barack Obama. Image from unknown archive.]](/content_images/3/sm_executiveorderblahblah.jpg "[President Barack Obama. Image from unknown archive.]")
[On Wednesday May 18th, 2011, President Obama issued a letter addressed to both the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate in regards to a new set of US sanctions on Syria. The letter was originally made public by The White House Press Secretary and can be found here.] For Immediate Release May 18, 2011 TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the "order") that ...
Keep Reading »Between Massacre and Genocide: On Eric Friedler's "Aghét: Nation Murder"
The equation of German documentary filmmaker Eric Friedler’s Aghét: Nation Murder (2010) is of two parts: aghét and genocide. The film’s voice-over proclaims that aghét (whose literal meaning is catastrophe) is the word Armenians use for what was visited on their ancestors during and immediately after World War I. In interviews and in post-screening Q & A sessions, Friedler has repeated the same assertion. But I doubt that I am alone in asking: Is it really so? Are these two terms—catastrophe and genocide—co-equals in the interior conversation around the genocide? Its noble intentions unscathed, Aghét leaves at least its Armenian viewers not only with the ...
Keep Reading »All Sides Interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editor on Killing of Osama Bin Ladin
![[Image from wosu.org]](/content_images/3/sm_bassamallsideswithamyfisher.jpg "[Image from wosu.org]")
[This is an interview conducted with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad on May 3, 2011, by Ann Fisher on her WOSU show, All Sides. The interview addresses the significance of Osama Bin Ladin's death in Muslim, Arab, and Western states. It also discusses recent developments with the Arab uprisings, in particular the unfolding events in Syria.] Bassam Haddad: Perspective on the Middle East We’ll discuss the recent death of Osama Bin Laden and reactions in the Middle East. What exactly were the reactions in Egypt and other nations, and how will the death of Osama Bin Laden ultimately change the Middle East? Then, a conversation about the current Arab Regional Order and ...
Keep Reading »Palestinian Youth: New Movement, New Borders
![[Image from PalestineMonitor.org]](/content_images/3/sm_Pal_YOUTH-c9248.jpg "[Image from PalestineMonitor.org]")
Reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah may present the first victory of a nascent Palestinian youth movement, which earned its moniker, the March 15th movement, from the first day of its mass protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Only one day after the launch of their movement demanding an end to the four-year internecine conflict that also divided the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced his willingness to travel to Gaza to engage in unity talks, while other leading Fatah members, aware of the youths’potential force, opened twitter accounts just to follow the pulse of the movement. Arguably, the unity government is a ...
Keep Reading »Tribes of Libya as the Third Front: Myths and Realities of Non-State Actors in the Long Battle for Misrata
Recent news reports originating from Libyan state media have Libyan tribes sending representatives to the rebels in Misrata, hoping to negotiate for peace and for control of the city. An April 24 article in The Guardian quoted Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, as threatening a “very bloody” assault against the rebels in Misrata if they fail to negotiate. “I hope to God we can avoid this,” Kaim lamented to The Guardian. Why do Qaddafi’s tales of “tribal” identities mobilizing against rebels gain traction in the international media, whereas other Libyan government pronouncements (about cease-fires and civilian casualties, for example) are greeted with ...
Keep Reading »Independence, Nakba, and the Visual Archive
![[Juliano Mir Khamis. Image from Unknown Archive]](/content_images/3/sm_julianopicsmaller.jpg "[Juliano Mir Khamis. Image from Unknown Archive]")
As part of our recognition of the life, work and tragic death of Juliano Mer-Khamis (1958-2011), we are publishing an excerpt from Ella Shohat’s recent postscript chapter to the new edition of Israeli Cinema: East /West and the Politics of Representation (IB Tauris, London), which features a discussion of Juliano’s powerful documentary, Arna’s Children. The excerpt is taken from the section, “Independence, Nakba and the Visual Archive,” published with the author’s permission in memory of Juliano Mer-Khamis. . . . [At the time of the completion of] Israeli Cinema, the bulk of Israeli films, and documentary cinema in particular, relayed the ...
Keep Reading »Legal Fallout of Israeli Attack on Lebanese Nakba Day March (Video)
The below video (courtesy of Wissam al-Saliby) was recorded on Friday, May 27th, 2011, when Omar Nashabeh (Arabic) and Salah El Dabagh (Arabic then English) held a press conference to discuss possible legal action against the Israeli authorities responsible for the attack on the Nakba Day commemorators that were marching in the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras. The press conference was held at the Press Syndicate H.Q. in Beirut.
Keep Reading »The PLO: A Positive Model or Doomed for Failure? Part II Roundtable on Palestinian Diaspora and Representation
[This is PART II of a three-part roundtable on Palestinian Diaspora and Representation moderated by Jadaliyya Co-Editor Noura Erakat. It features Naseer Aruri, Seif Da'na, Karma Nabulsi, and Sherene Seikaly. Read the INTRO, PART I: Palestinians Organizing in Diaspora, Part II: The PLO: A Positive Model or Doomed for Failure?.] 2. Is it fair to say that prior to Oslo, Palestinians had effectively organized themselves in a transnational governing body in the ...
Keep Reading »Roundtable on Palestinian Diaspora and Representation (INTRO)
“[T]he formation of a diaspora could be articulated as the quintessential journey into becoming; a process marked by incessant regroupings, recreations, and reiteration. Together these stressed actions strive to open up new spaces of discursive and performative postcolonial consciousness.” -Okwui Enwezor In the wake of Arab revolutions across North Africa and the Gulf, a new discussion on Palestinian self-determination has emerged. While all such discussions touch on foreign colonization, ...
Keep Reading »On Our Way to Palestine: An Eyewitness Account of Nakba Day at the Lebanese Border
Sunday 15th May, 2011. 7.30am, Nada calls. "The buses are already full and they told us if we want to hitch a ride we'd have to stand the whole way down, is there space with you?" The buses are full? Big smile on my face. "Of course!" Quick change of plan, and I wait for Rana before we set off to pick up Nada and Lara and join Ahmad in Khalde. After a stop for coffee, we began our journey down, with Ahmad leading our two-car convoy. It was very unlikely we would get lost though, ...
Keep Reading »Cruel and Sadistic Intoxication of Power: A Personal Account of Arrest and Interrogation
[This report was originally published by Mazin Qumsiyeh on Popular Resistance.] Hundreds of us were kidnapped by the apartheid soldiers from demonstrations and hundreds were injuried and scores were martyred. Before I give my report I wanted to thank every one who took action. I have far too many emails to thank each of you who wrote me and I do not know who are the hundreds of others who called or wrote to officials, media etc (I do know from inside information that hundreds did write just to the US ...
Keep Reading »Israel's Blockade of Gaza is Cracking
Egypt has announced that it will open its border crossing with Gaza on a permanent basis thereby reversing Egypt’s collusion with Israel’s blockade regime. The interim Foreign Minister, Nabil al-Arabi, has described support for the blockade by the previous Egyptian regime as "disgraceful." While Israeli officials have responded to this announcement with alarm they have limited capacity to undermine the new Egyptian government’s prerogative. Since the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad ...
Keep Reading »"Budrus": The Potential and Limits of Non-Violent Popular Struggle
Budrus. Directed by Julia Bacha. 2009. Budrus, an award-winning film directed by Julia Bacha and produced by Ronit Avni, documents the struggle of a small West Bank Palestinian village of the same name to prevent Israeli security forces from building the separation wall through its property. Through its struggle, Budrus achieved notoriety as a successful protest movement based almost entirely on non-violence by Palestinians, as well as an early example of cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli ...
Keep Reading »The Securitisation of Political Rule: Security Domination of Arab Regimes and the Prospects for Democratisation
Among the more interesting features of the current wave of uprisings and protests sweeping the Arab world is the general absence of the armed forces from regime efforts to defeat popular challenges to autocratic rule. Even in Libya, where the revolt has taken an unambiguously military character and the Qaddafi regime is additionally confronted with foreign intervention, the regular army has not emerged as a prominent actor. Where senior officers have played a significant role, such as in Egypt, Tunisia ...
Keep Reading »ثوار تحت الإحتلال: الإنتفاضة العراقية 2011 [Revolutionaries Under Occupation: The Iraqi Uprising of 2011]
في تغطيتها للإحتجاجات في العراق، نشرت مجلة الإكونومست مقالاً تحت عنوان "حتى بلد تعم فيه الديمقراطية غير مصون من الإحتجاجات." والمقالة تصف العراق كبلد يتمتع بحكومة منتخبة، ومع ذلك فان التظاهرات تعمه بسبب فشل الحكومة في توفير الخدمات الأساسية. وتعكس هذه المقالة إتجاهاً عاماً في فهم الوضع العراقي في الصحافة السائدة. فالمظاهرات في العراق -إن تم تغطيتها أصلاً - تصور على إنها ضد إخفاقات الحكومة في توفير الكهرباء والأمن والخدمات فقط. وهذه الصورة تغفل حقائق جوهرية تتعلق بالعراق ...
Keep Reading »Indictment
The following poem is by Muhammad Farhat al-Shaltami (1945-2010), one of the leading figures of Libyan dissident literature. Born in Benghazi in the wake of Italy’s bloody colonial rule, al-Shaltami was a teacher by occupation. He was first imprisoned in the 1960s under the monarchy – for his poetry as much as for his politics. He was imprisoned again more than once during the 1970s by the Qaddafi regime. Shaltami was the author of numerous diwans, with many poems originally composed in and about prison. ...
Keep Reading »Infomous
About O.I.L.
Jadaliyya’s Occupation, Intervention, and Law (O.I.L) section explores the relationship among armed conflict, politics, and international law. Here you will find analysis and debate about developments in international law, intervention and resistance, the political economy of conflict, and accountability for war crimes.
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